Rejuvenation
by IncognitoFoxxo
Summary: Nick never forgave Judy under that bridge, the doe he prayed to be with had vanished from existence. Nick sinks into an emotional squalor and can barely keep his sanity for years after he lost the one he loved, until one usual day of business...
1. Chapter 1- One act of kindness

**_This is just something I had on my mind and I thought it would be a good, quick read. Now, I've got three chapters that have been scrapped for 'Survival Instincts' (Yes, I know I've renamed it). To be honest, I'm not sure whether the one I'm 4000 words into right now is the one that's gonna be uploaded. However I do have another short story in the works, well is say short: 10 chapters each 10k words, set on their first stakeout._** ** _What could go wrong?_** ** _Subconscience: EVERYTHING!_**

That bridge.

That bridge was the exact place he'd lost his friend, turned his back on her, now she was gone without a trace. Phone number changed, work shifts changed and apparently, no-one named Judy Hopps existed on social media. She was long lost, as much as he wanted to forgive her, he knew if he did she would just run him over like everyone had done to him: his ex, his family, his friends. He lost his trust for people and that was why he shunned the bunny in an emotional squalor back to the burrows. The last words she said to him, he replayed on repeat whenever he missed her, through that pen she'd lent him.

So when he was in the depths of his own despair and drowning in liver failure, he went looking through the burrows, found her family, and her parents said they hadn't heard from her in weeks. They appeared more worried than Nick, but they hadn't seen what Nick had seen on the back streets of Zootopia, so beneath the surface he was trembling with fear for her life. On return to the city he cried. Harder than he had ever before and the only time he had since he was kicked out of the ranger scouts. She was completely gone. She trusted him even though she knew where he came from and what he was; a sly fox.

* * *

Months passed, followed by years. He'd completely forgot about her mostly due to drinking. Finnick was deceased due to contracting lung cancer so Nick was on his own, running the pawpsicle business to earn a quick buck without the small fennec he had for a companion. Never in his life had he lost everyone, he always had one person, but what did he expect? 37, he would never expect to be in the state he was then when he first met Judy. He thought she was his redemption, she could have changed his life around but he was too stubborn and lacked the ebullience to find her, something _she'd_ never give up on.

He'd completely changed his appearance for the worse, delving into a squalor himself. He had rough fur, dazed eyes, dry snout and most hidden was the slits on his wrists that he felt inclined to induce upon himself due to the sheer emotional pain he was in, and that was the only way to release the stress. His clothes kept the same, smoked frames with his classic Hawaiian shirts and baggy pants. He was a completely changed tod… for the worse.

The warm winter months in Sahara square usually drew attention from other districts to spend a day out in the heat. This attracted a lot of attention towards Nick's business and he made about 100 dollars a day on it not the 200 he bluffed to Judy. As Nick was heading home from a big day of profit he set his sight upon two bunnies, presumably a couple. It was common to find rabbits in couples as usually, their country rose parents forced them to marry some buck at the legal age. One was male, the other female, the doe was wearing rather large sunglasses that fully covered her eyes and the stocky buck had a survival knife in its sheath attached to his waist, but the doe was acting rather strange as the buck hurried her along the best he could by physically grabbing her wrist and pulling her faster than she could walk. She didn't want to follow him, that was obvious; as it wasn't a two-way connection of paws. They turned the corner down an alley that Nick only labelled as a shortcut.

Due to them entering the alley before him he was expecting to see them snogging or arguing, but he saw something that didn't really surprise him. The doe was getting beat by the buck. Domestic violence wasn't uncommon in Zootopia, Nick had come across some abusers during gambling but it never dawned on him how hard they hit. The grunts that were erupting from his exhaustion and her pain was unbearable. He wanted to stop the buck who was threatening her with worse hits but instead, Nick ploughed past the pitiful doe, he could as he was desensitised to violence by the street fights he spectated as a kit. Yet he knew he had the strength to push the buck away and just one knock to the head could easily take him down, but he couldn't help but think about Judy, the doe who disappeared. That was until he came to a realisation.

 _Why should another rabbit suffer physically the same way Judy did emotionally because of my own ignorance?_

With that thought he dropped the oversized cool-box he was wheeling and ended up creeping behind the buck and bashing him round the head with a loose bit of concrete. When he saw the state of the doe who'd been the victim of the attack he sighed. Blood was pouring from her mouth and nose, and with the absence of them sunglasses the black eye she had was clearly visible. She stood up, firmly for the brute force she'd just taken, no tears, no grunts, no signs of pain were elicited from her bruised body. She held out her paw and Nick shook it. He was surprised at how she'd been able to stand up after taking as many hits as she had, but then she'd probably endured much worse before.

The doe first stated her full name. "Judy Williams."

Nick thought it was best not to state his name due to his raised wanted level by the police. Instead, he hastily replied. "I knew a Judy once."

"Really?"

"Yeah..." There was a long awkward silence, neither of them knowing what to say until the bunny ceased the absence of sound.

"...well! I've got to go and sort this buck out."

"Yeah."

"I don't think I caught your name."

Nick had completely lost his sense of wittiness and flunked the chance of a believable answer. "It's erm, Luke Johnson."

"You don't sound too sure."

"Fine you caught me, I don't really want to say it."

"Why, what's happened?"

"I'm just quite a wanted mammal, so you know..."

"Oh, well stay safe and I'll see you around."

"Yeah, don't let that buck knock you around like a punching bag."

"I think that'll be a wake-up call to get through his thick skull, thank you so much. Bye."

"Ciao."

He proceeded to walk to the end of the alleyway before turning the corner only leaving Nick's tail visible to the doe awakening nostalgia in her head. She just shook off the feeling that she knew him and took some time to gawp upon her abusive partner, that was before she spat on his unconscious body.

After the short trip back to his apartment, Nick slumped down on his couch and mindlessly stared into the coarse carpet whilst in a deep trance of his own thoughts and then as though a spell was lifted, he pulled out his phone. Nick froze debating whether to search what he was about to or not. Then without hesitating he drifted his thumbs across the virtual keyboard and ended up with the words 'Judy Williams'. He glanced at the profile picture and widened his eyes before resting them with a massive smirk drawn across his face and tears brimming his eyes.

"I really am just a dumb fox."


	2. Chapter 2- Just an average thug?

**Disclaimer: So this is quite a short chapter for one reason: CLIFFHANGER! (don't worry I'll upload an extra one in the week to compensate)**

 **I honestly hate you guys for making me continue this story even though I like writing it I had to brainstorm some ideas and this was like the best one, and considering I got more support on this than any other story it would be a curse to not continue this and give you guys the story you deserve. I don't really hate you, I love you for your continued support!**

* * *

 _Danger lurking in the darkness:_

Nick nonchalantly strolled through the overgrown grass, squashing clumps of grass beneath his feet with every stride. The weather was overcast, the clouds following the slight rumble of thunder and the streaked sky draw in close towards the tod in one of the most remote places in Zootopia.

After the relaxing saunter through the overgrown field littered with dilapidated tablets scribing names. Nick finally reached his target being the only one with a melted pawpsicle leaning on it. "Hey Fin, I know it's been a while but I just come up here to let you know about your van, I know you said it was a piece of crap, but I managed to get about four hundred dollars, and the business yesterday was insane! I got a couple hundred dollars from Sahara Square, and I thought that with the money, I could buy a car. Anyway, I'm off, so I'll see ya later buddy. Ciao." Nick would often come up to see Finnick and tell him about his life even when he was alive, it was just great that he had a shoulder to cry on. Now Nick only asked himself one question to find his only shoulder to cry on: _Where is that bunny?_

* * *

After a solid few hours of just mindlessly wandering around the streets in an attempt to find her, the doe he saw yesterday, he didn't even know if that was her, to be frank. She had different colour eyes to Judy as he remembered but it wasn't lucid to him what colour eyes Judy had so that could be her with coloured contacts but her fur coat was exactly the same as what Judy's was and the handshake they had seemed familiar. That was enough to convince Nick that it was her and just to reinforce this idea that this was the doe he'd lost; her name was Judy, yet she had a different last name but that was because she was married to an abusive tod Nick wanted to save her from.

The sky started to darken and he began to lose all hope of finding the doe he helped the day prior to this expedition he was set on finishing. After he turned a corner he returned to the road that he'd first hustled Judy, he was about to let a tear brim his eye, knowing that if he just accepted her apology he wouldn't be in the state he was, and neither would she. He stood there, where Finnick pulled off and left the fuming bunny cop for Nick to hustle. He strode down the alleyway behind him and lit a cig, he rarely smoked especially after Finnick's death but sometimes he just had too much of an incentive. The glowing red end of the rolled up cigarette was the only source of light in the dark alley that had history, but every place had history for Nick. He could point to any street and say "That's where I got arrested." or "That was where I pulled a con.", he knew these streets like the back of his paw.

He was hesitant to continue as he apart from the fact that he could definitely feel the chill from the absence of the sun, there was more of a 'chill down your back' vibe in the atmosphere, despite that he just continued to walk through the alley towards the other side, that was until he felt a gun barrel clocked onto his head. Nick sighed and started to turn around. "Before you say anything, I am aware that you are holding a gun to my head and yes I do have money. Come on, I've done this more than enough times already." Before he could get a chance to see who it was, the gun barrel pushed his muzzle back facing forward, whoever was doing was clearly an experienced mugger as they knew very well to conceal their identity.

"I didn't say turn around, fox." It was a feminine voice who used the word fox as an insult, pronouncing the harsh 'x' more predominant than any other words. That was, of course, Nick's pet peeve, he knew that the world held a grudge against foxes and even if he'd accepted that application to become a cop, the world wouldn't trust him any more than they already did.

Nick had an idea, a stupid idea that probably wouldn't work, and if it didn't he would most likely be dead. But that was the best odds he'd had in years so he was willing to try it.

He elbowed his captor in the gut and whipped his body around before twisting her wrist to disarm her. He pushed her to the floor, her dragging him with her and feeling quite the kick from beneath him he winced from the pain he was in whilst she mimicked his pain with her being winded and her paw in pain from the recent dislodgement. Regardless she continued to retaliate against him whilst he attempted to restrain her. They were so blind to each other just brawling on the floor, Nick didn't even know her species. She fidgeted whilst his paw stampeded over her wounded paw that blindly slapped the ground in an attempt to grab it, but unfortunately for her, Nick won the 1st place prize and grabbed the gun before holding it against her head. She ceased her body's movements knowing it was probably over for her even though Nick had no intention of killing her, but he liked the fear he set to dwell in her and as they both met each other's gazes he knew why her kick was so strong and she knew why he'd beat her, the unbeatable mammal who always managed to win in a fistfight had met her match, and she didn't even know his name. When Nick stared into her fearful expression she plastered across her face he knew instantly who it was whilst she noticed the treble of dots by the side of his muzzle and as he smirked, conceited at his own victory she knew exactly who the tod dressed in a Hawaiian shirt was and he was staring straight into her violet eyes.

 **(I didn't include the doe in the first chapter without reason if you're wondering.)**


	3. Chapter 3- Unfinished business

**_So now this has sort of led to something not even I expected, I mean this was only designed to be a one chapter story, to let the reader's curiosity takeover for the ending but BAM I'm here now and this is the third chapter. Hope you enjoy. :P_**

 ** _PS: I apologise in advance if you're American and you don't understand any of the English terms I use in this. (Hint: Google holds the answer to everything)_**

The young doe on the floor before Nick was exactly what he was looking for, that same fur, them same eyes and that same ebullient attitude. Nick was so overjoyed, he said nothing and dropped the gun that sat in his right paw.

The doe picked up the gun and kicked Nick off her before switching the position of them both. She started to utter some words into his ear as he stood shocked that who he thought was his best friend had the courage to kill him. "You said you wouldn't forgive me under that bridge just for one little mistake I made, do you think I wanted to be like this, do you think I want to be doing this as my job? Well, guess what, I'm not gonna forgive you either." Nick quickly ducked as the bullet fired creating one loud bang that wasn't unusual especially in the part of they were situated in.

Nick managed to push her up against a wall and hold her there as she struggled to get out of it. "Why are you doing this?!"

"Because you didn't even try to find me or to help me, you just let me go, you just let my career down, you let me get into this state!" Her shouting ceased as Nick started to feel the guilt that she'd induced upon him, he wasn't the only one suffering, she was worse. "I thought you were my friend Nick, but you just let me down like everyone else." Nick released the tension he inflicted on her shoulder and she didn't even try to run, swing at him or shoot him.

He could see she was completely disappointed by the mammal she'd become, robbing people at gunpoint for a living. He tried to reassure he had been in the same place before. "Look fluff, I know I'm probably the last person you want to speak to right now and I'm not great at apologies but, I know how you feel. Everyone lets you down whether that be a friend, your family or anyone but you know if you kill me now, you won't have anyone left." Judy just stared at the floor before looking up at Nick, tears brimming in her eyes, she was contemplating what she would do. Take the chance of being let down by Nick again or just walk away ignoring what he said and carry on with what she did daily.

She was standing there sniffing, nose twitching, ears drooped. Nick opened his arms as if to invite her for one compassionate hug.

Judy sauntered over with her head down towards Nick and he smiled at her acceptance of him even after the loss she'd had to put up with. He knew what it was like and the empathy he felt for a naïve country bunny was definitively present.

She started to cry into his iconic Hawaiian shirt as he ran his paw down her ears and wrapped his tail around her to comfort her. She slowly ceased her tears and she actually smiled at how he was so understanding of her situation, how he felt obliged to do what he was doing.

Nick thought that this was the best time as any to reveal his true feelings towards her. "Carrots, you know I love you don't you?"

She just nodded and replied "Yeah, I do too you fluffy tailed tod." She gaped her eyes at what he just said and how she replied to it so nonchalantly. She tried to find an excuse for what she just said and without finding one, she just accepted the fact she loved him as if she said that subconsciously she must have deep down loved him.

Nick's signature grin was even wider and trying to hold back his own tears he pulled some faces that displayed the fact that he nearly lost it.

She was just happy to be in his arms and Nick was happy that he could hold her in them. "I'm sorry for, you know, trying to shoot you."

Nick tutted at her apology. "You think I've not had that done to me before? You really are a dumb bunny." She laughed at his remark causing them both to smile wide. Nick patted her back before prying the weeping doe from his arms. "Aren't you coming?" Judy frowned at Nick, trying to understand what he said. "The case?"

"Nick, we can't, I'm not even a cop." She hadn't even finished her sentence before Nick's tail disappeared around the corner.

Judy ran to catch up with Nick, that was of course after she'd picked up the gun.

"How do you actually know where we're going?"

"Were going to the abandoned warehouse across the field next to the bridge."

"How do you know that though?"

"Something called being a criminal or a police officer for that fact fluff, you should really try it." She was piqued by the insult she'd just received.

"You do not have the right to say that."

"Why, it's not against the law, but of course you wouldn't know that." She grunted as Nick turned around and smiled at her, as if to display that he was joking but still the contemptuousness came across.

She shook her head at Nick, he'd missed the constant teasing with her even if he spent the small amount of time with her as he did prior to their reconciliation.

On arrival at the warehouse it looked rather dull and the rusty doors were jammed shut along with the smashed windows that held shards of crystallised glass. After Judy found a desolate window frame they both climbed through unaware they were being led straight into something that Nick had heard from a tipoff, so it wasn't all too reliant and because of that he didn't tell Judy, he wanted her to feel as though she could trust someone because the constant letting down she had experienced was part of life in the back alleys for the economically boosted city.

They both crept in the dark, however Nick being at more of an advantage due to his nocturnal traits still persistent thousands of years after they weren't needed. Judy was just holding any part of Nick she could feel in an attempt to create as little noise as possible. Unfortunately Nick didn't really check his sources from the tipoff and just like that armed officers flooded into the building and caught Judy with her gun drawn and Nick. Nothing more had to be said about Nick, he was always on the cop's radar, mainly for the cons he pulled on rookie recruits and the excess money he gambled and the extreme threats he would almost always follow through, he was a wanted mammal, that was the stick of it.

Nick grunted as he caught sight of the chief who he constantly piqued in his frequent visits to the precinct. He usually got off scot-free but the stakes the cocky weasel had to set were high as he was relying on a payout from a 'contact' in turn for getting Nick locked away for essentially the rest of his life, and when he heard that Nick was asking where to get nighthowlers the day prior, it provided the perfect chance to claim the bounty on the witty tod. By of course calling the cops on him.

Nick was pretty much hated in the criminal world due to him ripping nearly everyone off, and what people called his way with money. I f you wanted to almost certainly win in gambling you'd call Nick Wilde and he would obviously do it for a small share of what you win and he still frequently did it, winning cash from other people's investments, that was if he wasn't peeving cops for their gullible curiosity that drove every single one of the blue clothed mammals. Nick had even considered signing up himself but that thought was quickly discarded when he was reminded of who would be the most contemptuous leader Nick had ever come across. That was until he met the now _ex_ -cop who led Nick to ask two questions;

 _Who is this bunny?_

 _Why am I following her?_

He'd asked them two questions since he climbed over the fence back at Tundratown. His curiosity usually didn't drag him far, but this was where them questions had led him; Judy getting charged with possession of an illegal weapon, and Nick, well Nick; basically everything else except things of a sexual matter which most criminals would go down the route of especially if they were lonely and apart from a couple of one-night stands in his twenties Nick was alone.

Both of them held their paws up and surprised even the newest of recruits that the famous first bunny cop partners in crime (literally) with Nick, was about to get arrested.

Knowing it would probably be over for Nick at the least he grabbed the back of Judy's head and smashed his lips into hers trying to convey the passion he'd held for years just for her.


	4. Chapter 4- Escape?

_**So I'm not actually sure what I'm doing now so that's always reassuring. I've written the first scene in this out about 3 or 4 times now, that basically means the whole chapter as the whole chapter is a single scene. Basically, what I do with every scene I ever write. (The main reason why it takes me so long to upload)**_

 _ **Anyway, here's chapter 4 of Rejuvenation, hope you enjoy. :P**_

 _ **(When I said 'armed officers flooded into the building', I only meant four. Sorry for the hyperbole.)**_

 _Escape?:_

Nick knelt down paws behind his head, grunting things under his breath whilst Judy made it lucid she was confused with her body. Judy was thinking that it was all over for her, her past clean life off the street and her and her parent's relationship and most importantly, her new found love. Nick, on the other hand, was thinking about ways to avoid their arrest. There were only four cops with guns that were restraining them doing the walk of shame, that's what the trip to the precinct was: a walk of shame. Usually, there was only one but four was a bit of a push with his last plan as the guide, so to replace plan 'A', he devised plan 'B' which involved a distraction, a blade, a bit of time and some of his dignity back.

Before Nick or chained up he almost popped a blood vessel whilst digging his claws into the palm of his hand in an attempt for them to at least stand a chance of escaping the devil blessed metal rings and he had one…

"Can I go to the toilet please?" Nick asked politely knowing the answer was already going to be no, but just to keep on good terms with them.

"No, now shut up and move it."

Nick huffed the word 'manners' under his breath and caught the attention of one of the Timberwolves that were escorting them. "What did you say, Fox?"

Nick hated people defining him simply as a fox, it made him seem like he had no character and was just a mindless machine that caused crime, but if robots needed to take a leak or not, Nick was sure enough adamant on having one and dropped the manners when asking, well, more stating than asking again. "I need a piss, now are you gonna let me go, or let me stain your cruiser for the rest of its crappy life?"

Judy was just stood head to the ground, unaware of what her fox companion was doing. They let go of his arms to shoo him away but he didn't budge and he flashed the cuffs at them. "I'm not taking the cuffs off, think again Fox."

"How do you expect me to have a piss with my pants on? And it's against the law if you pull my pants down without my consent which you don't have, so are you gonna let me off for a tiny amount of time or stand there like idiots?" Nick always gave people of a higher class than him an option, meaning they were more inclined to choose between them options and not think of their own. He knew how to get in peoples' heads and that was a very powerful yet dangerous skill.

"Fine." The officer uncuffed Nick and once he was free of the cuffs that shackled his paws together he rubbed his wrist before turning around to Judy who was watching the ordeal and winked at her and that shocked her awake. She'd figured that it was best to keep quiet as last time she spoke up, it nearly ended with both her and Nick drowning in the ice-plagued pool beneath their feet as they hung above it.

Nick twirled his finger around to provoke them to look away however, it didn't end great for Nick who just received a shout from one of the officers. "No, go now!" They tried to seem intimidating but Nick didn't even flinch. He'd been in much worse incidents before, it wasn't like a grey wolf's spit was going to make him scared. He'd dealt with much worse before. He stood on his tip toes to close the height difference between him and the sombre wolf.

"Make me you howling sack of fur!" The wolf wanted to punch the fox right there and then but calmed himself down whilst repeating the systematic quote all officers uttered whilst they were arresting someone, this time being used to remind the position of authority he held over his suspect. His partner nudged his shoulder and whispered something into his ear that seemed to only strengthen his ire. He decided to follow the advice his partner had given him despite the fact that even his colleague had taken sides with the likeable Fox, mainly for the psychological power he held over the officer who agreed to everything he demanded. Besides, when a mammal needed to go, they needed to go, a statement that wasn't uncommon, but made it appearances here and there ever so often.

The wolf who held him captive sighed. He was angry that he'd been beaten by a fox, yet curious as to how even if his colleague didn't persuade him he would have fallen into the trap of the intelligent fox. Nick, for the first time in his life, cared about the cops arresting him. That would ruin Judy's life as Nick knew from experience, it did him and even if he sacrificed himself for her to run, there would be a manhunt to find her whilst she cried in a ditch about losing the one she loved. It would be unfair either way, so decided to take on a ludicrous plan that would probably end with them both wound behind bars.

Whilst the two trains of thought hung in the two minds, Nick had zipped his trousers down and stopped peeing. However, when the wolf turned around Nick was gone, he'd vanished out of thin air. Nick had dropped down to the floor in the 4-foot high grass and crept on all fours around the officers. That was his trait and skill: Stealth. He was a fox, and he lived by the moral of only being what you were born to be, whether that be a sly fox or a naive bunny. Soundlessness, not even the grass parting was noticed as he moved in time with the wind, taking strides with his black paws that slimmed out to skinny arms. His shirt and pants helped his camouflage attempt with the grass and the trousers matching the earth. Despite the four officers in a field at a height advantage Nick managed to creep around to where Judy was standing and due to the officers requiring to have their weapons drawn, they had no choice but to let go of Judy's arms. Next thing they knew, they'd lost heir bunny as well, the cop suppressed his inner anger by producing a bulging vein on his forehead whilst thinking of someone to blame, whether it was his partner's fault for making him turn around, his own fault for listening or whether it was his squad's fault for letting go of their second suspect. Nevertheless, he was triggered.

He ordered one to radio in for backup whilst he and the other couple of mammals searched the area for the duo of mammals. How could they lose a fluorescent orange fox and a grey bunny with her long ears?

Meanwhile, on the floor, they were both crawling towards the bridge so they could actually stand a chance at escaping, Judy couldn't drop to all 4's though due to her handcuffs still fixed around her wrists. She didn't want to say anything to Nick because his answer would most likely be "Shut up" or some other insolent statement. Once the adrenaline had worn off from him sneaking around he turned to Judy about to kiss her before noticing her cuffs still restraining her wrists.

He whispered to her lower than he could even hear himself knowing that she could hear him fine with her increased awareness when it came to sound. "Why didn't you tell me you had your cuffs on still, fluff?" Judy shrugged her shoulders with a little smile, not caring where they were, but as long as they were together, that was the main objective.

Nick pulled a paper-clip out his back pocket that looked as though it had been mangled yet Nick used it to unlock the metal that bound both Judy's wrists together. He always carried one around with him, it wasn't uncommon for Nick to get arrested, cuffs on, however, he rarely made it to the precinct to be held in custody or charged with anything. The officers had better things to be doing than petty theft. Nick rarely got caught for petty theft, but when it came to grand theft he made sure to be extra sly and sneaky.

The only thought that dashed around Judy's mind right then was, what she thought, an important question and decided to ask Nick it even though they were less than 10 foot away from the nearest cop. "Why didn't you lockpick the gate back at Tundratown if you can unlock handcuffs?"

"It was a different lock mechanism."

"Really because the keys one of the bears were holding would have fit perfectly in there and it was a two-lock system and the handcuffs are the same, so why didn't you?"

"Because I wanted to see what our bunny would do if the case wasn't handed to her on a plate." He smiled at her, not a smirk, a smile. That, in turn, made Judy smile. "Anyway, fluff lets get out of here."

A couple of minutes later they were out of the hot zone and they hid under the bridge whilst a couple of sirens drove over their heads. "You know I love you fluff..."

"Oh jeez, not even a day into this relationship and you're bribing me for something."

"Well, you know you were a cop and haven't been charged with anything yet and I'm a conman who has been charged tonnes…" She nodded her head, not particularly liking where this was going. "… well, how about, once we finish this case whatever it is, we go to your old boss and ask for your job back."

"We can't."

"What do you mean we can't?"

"He will say no straight away and probably arrest you."

"If he arrests me, I outsmart him. That's how it has always been, it's not like it'll be different this time, besides what have I done. I got apprehended for no reason back there. Plus it wasn't me holding the gun."

Judy widened her eyes at the sudden realisation that she'd left her gun back there with her DNA smearing all over it along with Nick's from their encounter earlier. "Shoot! I left the gun there!" She felt Nick shove something into her chest. How he had got it was still a mystery but he had got the vital bit of evidence the police needed to charge Judy with possession of an illegal firearm and with Nick's skills in court being a lot better and believable than anyone else's. He just found it was a relief there were no cameras there. It was Judy and Nick's words against the officers who arrested them.

He already had his speech planned. He was going to say they were following a lead to the Night-howlers case and that the officers were willing to jeopardise the case to get another arrest towards the challenge they held every month. To talk about the Night-howlers now, it was something that was slowly wiping out the predators in the city, over a 1000 had been infected with the toxic chemical now and they just needed to find the stronghold to confirm everyone's suspicions, It was scary and heartbreaking especially when whoever was behind it started to target children. He knew they would ask him whether he was a cop and he would confidently say no but would add that the police weren't doing their job so he did it for them, becoming a vigilante essentially. Nick' speech towards Bogo was one that he remembered vividly; outlining the faults within the police force. He and Judy had got shoulders deep in a case and were following a massive lead from Judy's farm whilst the cops hadn't proceeded any further in it for 5 years, all they had done is held a range of press conferences muttering about the same old crap. Nick also managed to scrape enough evidence together to prove his innocence even if he really wasn't.

He snapped himself back to reality and thought at the small scale, Bogo, or as Nick called him 'Buffalo butt' as neither of them respected one another enough to even utter either one's name. However the chief still had to approve of Judy's request, and Nick's surprise request he was planning on revealing that would lead him to either gain or lose _two_ of the best cops he'd ever had.

 _ **Okay I've just finished writing the chapter and I've realised that my first chapter is 1207 words, my second is 1253, my third is 1593 and then this is 2228, so they're increasing too fast for my liking. (I said this was a short read.)**_


	5. Chapter 5- Too far?

_**Yes, Mondays are now Sundays, leave me alone. (Sorry about the**_ **VERY** _ **late chapter, I just didn't have the ideas to write another) BUT here it is and as always:**_

 _ **Hope you enjoy! :P**_

 _Too far?_

"What an absolute idiot I am."

"Excuse me?" Judy was confused over why he was blaming himself for what just happened back there. It was a coincidence and he shouldn't have been blaming himself for that. Well, she _thought_ that it wasn't Nick's fault.

"That weasel lied his ass off." Normally Nick would see right through an ambush like that and the shifty weasel being the opposite of a trustworthy source wasn't too disconcerting. But desperate for answers and Nick knew that the weasel could possibly hold some information on where Judy may have been if she went after the night howlers. She could never find Weaselton though. Without Nick's expertise and street knowledge, how was she supposed to find the weasel who held some valuable information on the night howlers case? Judy lost all hope of Bogo listening to her after he discarded her application for a search warrant of Weaselton's property so she left, she didn't change shifts as Clawhauser had told Nick. He was forced to say that by the chief to push the press away despite him being against it until his job was on the line. Nick suspected Judy had been involved in some sort of prostitution if anyone from the drugs trade had got their filthy paws on her or involved in trafficking if someone from the organisation side of the criminal world had got her. She could have been anywhere and after finally plucking up the courage to send a text telling Judy he was worried about her, he got no response only invoking more fear from within. Now that they'd finally found each other confessed their love and were continuing with the case, there wasn't any point of hiding. Judy was willing to go to the press and reveal some of the force's dirty little secrets if the chief didn't let them both finish the case and prove the chief they weren't wrong and she wasn't an idiot.

Despite her appearance, she wasn't an idiot, how would she have got onto the force if she was? The chief seemed to disregard that and that was the exact reason why he begged the mayor not to put the bunny cop in his precinct but got denied by the lion who currently sat arrested in Zootopia's prison.

Nick had ideas as to where he could night howlers but with too many to list, he just shoved them to one side and concentrated at the matter at hand. They were both stuck, without a job, in fear of Nick's mentality but in love. Was that such a crime?

"Nick, what are you talking about?" Judy was now at an all time loss as to who Nick was talking about. Weasels were almost as derogated as foxes and usually found it easy to mingle with each other but some of them had proved what foxes needed to be done. They proved that just because their species, it didn't depict who they were and the possibilities that were available to them, they flipped a prejudice and now full prejudice was against foxes.

"Weaselton, he lied to me, he set us up."

"What do you mean by Weaselton?"

"Do you remember that weasel you caught with Nighthowlers?"

"Oh yeah, the one that almost got me fired."

"Well, he played me for an idiot."

"And..."

"He's gonna see what happens to people who double-cross me." Nick was referring to the punishment he'd enforce amongst people who completely betrayed his trust. This punishment depended on how severe what the did actually was and Nick felt a little bit torture coming on for this weasel. He needed information and if he wasn't going to get it by holding a knife to his throat, that was the next option. Not like he'd cause any permanent damage, such as ripping teeth out, but he'd still cause a whole lot of pain.

"And that is exactly?"

"You'll find out sooner or later fluff."

* * *

After finally tracking the weasel down who almost got them arrested to a bar, Nick told Judy to wait outside whilst he went in there and did his ' _thing_ ' so he kissed her and proceeded through the door to the other side that smelt of ale so potently. With Judy out the way, Nick didn't need to hesitate about showing his other side, his evil side and as soon as that door closed behind him, he was safe to be let loose.

The bar they'd followed his tracks to was one where many criminals hung around and were found deep within the concrete jungle in a place where you would only find it if you knew it was there. Criminals swarmed the bar and often at least one of them would end up as a corpse by the end of the night. Sometimes, bodies were left in there after a brawl, but as soon as that started to happen a sign got bolted to the door stating 'TAKE YOUR MESS' as a way to subtly get the message across without anyone suspecting a thing. That was the sign Judy was stood under and the way Judy's ears were positioned made it so that the sign only had the letters 'TAKE' and 'ME' left which caused a few sniggers from passer-bys.

Meanwhile, inside the bar, Nick strode down the middle walkway avoiding all the displaced chairs and flipped tables along with a few unconscious bodies. It was like a war zone and might as well have been. A small table in the corner of the room had the weasel and a few of his friends sat around it, out of the action playing poker.

 _I shouldn't take on that many people, but then again he nearly got Judy hurt. And if he got Judy hurt, I would have-_ Nick shuddered at the thought and soon depressed his doubts, so proceeded to saunter over to the table. When Weaselton saw Nick approaching him, he shot up and started to run only triggering Nick to run after him. After smashing the door open to the bathroom open and shutting it in an attempt to slow his pursuing fox, he climbed up to a window and trying to wriggle his way out Nick grabbed his tail and yanked him back down the floor. "Going somewhere?" Without even thinking about the retaliation he could get, Weaselton soon tried to make and make a break for it; _tried_.

Nick was stood by the door anyway so there was no way Weaselton was ever going to get out of what was coming to him. Nick kicked the runt into the door frame as he tried to run past him and slammed his head on the wood caused a gash in his head whilst also smashing his knee cap causing a scream of angst to erupt from the weasel. Nick didn't just want revenge for that moment, he wanted it for Finnick as well. He'd been a consistent traitor to Finnick as well as Nick. The only reason he had people coming back to him was that he knew connections that no one else did and he played on this. Now the slippery rodent was going to get what was long overdue. Nick crouched down to get down to the same height as the hyperventilating weasel and smiled at him. "You gonna try that again?" The weasel shook his bleeding head, too fearful of what was about to come to speak, he would have made another break for it then but his knee was destroyed so that was out of the question. "To be honest, I think you actually deserve to tell me where you got them Nighthowlers."

It was a direct order presented in Nick's style. He was pretty calm when getting revenge but if you went against him, may God have mercy on your soul and this weasel needed more than God's help to save him from the incoming response to his reply. "So your bunny friend didn't end up like Fin then?"

Judy was still firmly stood underneath the sign that daunted over her head. She was starting to get bored and after thirty minutes of standing against a wooden door, getting shoved out the way by polar bears and other species of physical superiority, anyone would. But Judy's mind was like a fire that was in need of a slither of gasoline. She needed motive to actually get somewhere and do something and being a police officer gave her that motive, it didn't recently though, she was off the force in Zootopia longer than she was on the force in Zootopia and now that Nick had started the case up again, it wasn't like she could turn down the offer to get the culprit of the shootings. "Nick, how long are you going to take?" She'd been asking herself that question so much that this must have been her twentieth time; at the least.

She had motive and when she did, nothing could have stopped her. If he had killed him, it wouldn't be too much of a shock, but the thought of Nick doing something like that was out of the ordinary. He was too much of a nice fox. She couldn't have been any more wrong. All that waiting brought her bladder to be on edge and before long she was desperate to go to the toilet.

Creaking the door open ever so slightly, he caught a few people's attention. She heard quotes like "A rabbit in this bar?" followed by laughter and then some threats or cautions; she wasn't really sure how to interpret "You better watch out, cotton tail." She spotted a small sign with the letters 'WC' on and that was her next target, then she'd be out of there and back to her post, after all, Nick would meet her back there when he was done with whatever he was doing. After receiving some winks from the poker table, she shuddered with disgust.

After passing the locked stock room with the words 'staff only' on she presumed the other door was the gateway to her salvation but when she pushed the door open, she didn't expect what was awaiting the other side.


	6. Chapter 6- Enough is enough

_**Sorry for yet another late chapter. I know I'm unreliable, but at least you hopefully like my writing. Besides the overdue chapter I think I willing to leave you with a short ten chapter story just cutting short of 20K words.**_

 _ **Anyway, as always: Hope you enjoy :P**_

 _Enough is enough:_

Nick was stood in front of a weasel who was knocked unconscious with cuts, bruises and broken bones. Nick himself was splattered with the mammal's blood where he'd tried to fight back and as soon as he heard the door behind him fling open, he whipped his head around and threw the knife he was holding at his visitor. Fortunately for Judy, she ducked and the knife skimmed within millimetres of her head before it planted itself in the wall.

"Nick! What the hell have you done!"

"I swear carrots, it's not how it looks."

"You're a psychopath!"

"No, just hear me out." Judy tried to wipe all feelings of a startling nature off her face and prevent them from showing whilst he explained what happened. He couldn't be lying. He couldn't have got blood on his paws without reason. Surely? "He said he was going to hunt you down and kill you, spit on Finnick's grave, then hire a hitman to deal with me." Judy was speechless at how Nick was so willing to torture someone in order to get back at them for producing false threats. However, them threats were two of the things closest to the little heart he did have and he wasn't going to let a clumsy weasel trample all over them.

A strong silence hung over them like a storm-cloud and Nick felt as though Judy was owed an apology."I'm sorry, for everything. I know I've been crap company and the only thing I've done for us so far is get us sorta arrested. That's not even including the near miss you had with that knife a second ago." At least he was aware of all the wrong they were doing and not trying to sweep them under the carpet like he had been doing for the last day.

Judy wasn't willing to lose him again because he needed to know something and that a weasel stood in his way, derogating everything Nick cared about in the process. Sure he had blood on his paws, sure the weasel before him had cuts all over along with a couple of broken bones. But that was still Nick, he was in his element at the minute. A criminal with nothing but bad history. Judy was the only bit of good history he had but, yet he still managed to screw that up as well. Turning her into an amateur thug with nothing better to go to.

Death didn't faze Judy, instead, it was the pain. A scream would make her skin crawl and the sound of bones cracking caused her to shut her eyes tight, whilst blood just made her imagine the pain the mammal went through to get into the state they had. "You put him through so much pain… oh god. What have you done? I'd rather you kill him than do this."

"Yeah, I would have done that; if I was trying to kill him."

"Then what were you doing?" She knew what he was trying to achieve but she wanted to know what he was actually doing in order to achieve his goal of getting the information on the Nighthowlers that he needed.

"Torturing him to get the info I needed out of him without him leading us into another deathtrap."

"I'm not for this idea."

"It's called exertion and cops do it all the time."

"The FBI, CIA and rogue cops do that, not 'cops'." Unfortunately, since the cop numbers started to decline after losing hope in restoring the city to its former non-prejudice state, so the true ones did as well. The others leant towards becoming _really_ dirty cops.

"Well, they're all the same so it doesn't make any sense _not_ to do it. Besides if I do this, it won't just be healthy for the criminal community but also for the actual community."

Judy remembered how she had apprehended Weaselton and how he was apparently always causing a ruckus amongst the city. Even though she didn't condemn the violence, she did the punishment. She wished that the weasel didn't receive the punishment in the form of pain. "Fine, but just don't do anything that's, you know, 'damaging'."

"I think I've made him suffer enough already. When-" Nick had at least showed some awareness that he'd caused a truck load of angst for the weasel.

"You're not finished with me, Nicky. What are you waiting for? Your slutty rabbit to give you the thumbs up?" Nick craned his neck around to meet the lifeless gaze of the weasel he'd tortured for half an hour and pulled the weasel on his feet. He pushed him up against the ceramic tiles with his arm throttling his neck. "Go on then, kill me. What do you have to lose?"

"Where are the Nighthowlers." It wasn't a question but more alike to a statement, demanding Weaselton for an answer.

"I already told your stupid ass where they were!"

"You led us into an ambush you lying little prick, so if you would care to tell me where the actual supplier is, I'll let you go, if not; I'm going to hand you to Ricky and he can deal with you."

"No, I was serious about the location, I get some of the cut."

"You?! You get some of the cut?! Haha! I may be a fox but I'm not an idiot. Now, where are they?"

"I swear man, they're in that warehouse. If they've moved them then I don't know about it."

"Who sells them?"

"You must be joking, you know if I tell you, they'll kill me anyway."

"Do I look like a joke to you?" Nick pushed his arm harder against his neck whilst the weasel struggled for air hanging inches off the floor, restrained by Nick's arm. Meanwhile, Judy just watched at how different Nick was when he was in 'criminal mode'. She couldn't get over the idea that he was a murderer. How could he so loosely toss around pain and suffering as though it was a normal thing? When she met him, he was so subtle and sly, how could he be so horrible so fast? Because it threatened something he loved. He loved Judy and when someone dared to oppose that feeling, they were in for a nasty surprise.

"Yeah, apparently you do to everyone else as well."

"What are you on about?"

"Betrayal with that coppa right there."

"No, you said I'm a joke to everyone. Let's see how much of a joke I am after I slice your throat open."

"Oh but what about the ram's name? How's our rookie Detective gonna work that out if I'm dead?" Nick plastered the widest smirk he'd pulled in a long time right in front of the wounded and clueless weasel's face.

"I'm gonna work this out just fine without you." He let the tension on his victim's neck cease and Weaselton dropped to the floor, that followed with a grunt of pain. Nick grabbed Judy's paw and pulled her out of the bathroom whilst she numbly followed, dumbfounded at the different side of Nick she had seen. The side that was so grotesque and merciless. The side that contradicted his hustling street smart self.

After they had exited the bar and a bloody Weaselton hobbled out the bathroom, Judy pulled her paw back in fury for what Nick was doing. "You cannot just do that! How do you think I feel standing there like an idiot watching you threatening the Weasel for what? To know it's a ram?"

"Oh no, he's more than a ram."

"Nick, seriously, we need-"

"A couple of years ago a ram went dark and his name was Doug, he wasn't too hot in the community and eventually left to go abroad. But he didn't go abroad. He's in Zootopia right now and the mayor knows his number."

"Are you even listening?"

"We need to find the mayor and get Doug's number, she won't be willing to die for some drug dealers identity and I have the perfect plan to get her attention."

"Nick, listen to-"

"My gut, I know."

"Listen!" Nick was scared to say a word due to the sudden uproar from the bunny who stood next to him and had constantly been interrupted by him. "Look, you can't just live in your own little fantasy without caring about a thing. Even though he was annoying, there's no need to put him on the brink of death! You don't care about other people, you are so selfish! You left me outside freezing cold whilst you tortured a mammal almost to death! Look, I know you meant your apology but, sometimes sorry isn't enough and dragging me around like a puppet isn't going to help your cause, so for now: we're done."

"Carr-"

"Nick, I seriously can't do this if you're just gonna- ruthlessly torture people and then expect me to be okay with that. I don't want to know that Nick, I want to know the Nick I met years ago. The Nick that didn't just torture people both mentally and physically. I want you to be _the other_ Nick."

"But-"

"No buts. Call me when you've cleared yourself up." Nick was speechless. He was alone again. All because of his mistakes. He loved her, but he wasn't sure if she was serious back in the alley when she confessed her love for him, how could she be if she was willing to leave him within 24 hours of their reconciliation? Nevermind the questions he had haunting over him. He had to get this case finished, with or without Judy. He needed to show her that he didn't just think about himself, he was thinking about her. If he did this, then there was a possibility that he could get her job back. Nick was a strong contender in court if them few officers decided to press charges and there was no real evidence to support their argument whilst Nick had already prepared a speech. He still had to catch the shooter first. That was the difficult part.

Nick knew where everyone who wanted to stay off the radar went and that was underground, despite the possibility that the name on the sticky note in Bellwether's former office could purely be a coincidence and Nick was just walking into yet another ambush, he still followed through with his pledge to proceed.

He was heading the opposite way to Judy and didn't even glance back at her, determined to prove that he wasn't a hindrance to her and that he did still love her enough to put his life on the line to prove Judy's innocence and her true blooded cop side was still in there and raring to burst out.

Judy turned around to see Nick's tail turn the corner as it had done when they first met reminding her of the time he was hustling her. The time when he wasn't violent, he was funny. So far he hadn't cracked a single joke between them. Truth was, he was too focused on keeping them both safe to have time to joke but that wasn't the Nick she knew. He was a joke. Even in the most sombre of times, he could make her crack a smile but that was gone and all that was left was a fox dying to get revenge on the mammals that had crossed him and his friends and redeem himself to the doe he loved.


	7. Chapter 7- Shadow don't move alone

_**Disclaimer: We're just getting to the good bit so don't you dare be going anywhere. You know I love you all and erm, yeah, next chapter is here, yet again one day late. But for the first time ever, I wrote this whole chapter in one sitting so if something tragic happened to my computer such as, it crashed (which it did) then I would lose everything I wrote delaying the chapter by a day or two (which is what happened).**_

 _ **Anyway, hope you enjoy!**_

 _Shadows don't move alone:_

Nick strode in the darkness, cautious about everything from the shadows of the subway trains to their blinding lights.

After the subway declined in numbers due to the 'savage' attack on the underground involving a polar bear mauling 6 mammals to death, it didn't take long for people to grow a fear of the stations knowing there were so many mammals confined into one space with the diversity of both predator and prey taking the tram together. Since a considerable amount of mammals had gone 'savage' it just lessened the already sparse predator population and since only predators took the subway now, with all the prey in fear of whether they would 'biologically' turn 'savage', it was solely a predator's transport system.

This exponential decline in visitors to stations forced some to shut down and had been bordered up to prevent mammals entering. But, with Nick being a small mammal in the first place he slid through the vandalised metal gates unnoticed. He quickly whipped his head around to check on Judy but felt a chill run down his back when he realised what he'd done to her and how she might not see him again after entering the ram's lair.

He entered unnoticed by even cameras into the station, no CCTV cameras had a clear view of the entrance so Nick walked down the cold cracked stone steps with ease. He pulled out his phone and checked the time. Trams run every half an hour and the time was 2:29 in the morning, he saw a message from an unknown number with only the words 'help me' as the preview. Nick just assumed it was someone begging for help in gambling. So he continued to gaze at the empty tunnel, waiting for the subway carriage to pass. Nick glanced across the tracks whilst waiting and saw a stockpile of rust-bucket trams and he was going to check every single one until he found where this ram was hiding.

After the sudden burst of light had passed, Nick needed time to adjust his eyes back to the intense darkness that shrouded him and reduce the little light that poured in from street-level from the street lights behind him. He crouched behind a loose bit of asphalt, presumably from anti-social behaviourists and glanced behind him once more in hopes to see Judy there with him and both give each other the go-ahead but she wasn't at all because his foolish mistakes that seemed to always make him end up in an emotional squalor that led to depression then morphed into chronic depression and yet he was too stubborn to receive help from anyone he trusted because he had trust issues; no wonder why due to the events that had happened in his life.

He cleared his head when he was startled out of the daze he was in by the sound of the gate clanging behind him. He thought to himself it was probably just some kids. That was until the silhouette of two hooded figures with what only Nick could describe as the shape of wool on their arms crawled across the wall and down into the depths of darkness Nick had scrambled into. He'd ran behind a concrete pillar whilst breathing so heavily out of sheer panic when he knew he was dealing with one of the biggest crime organisations in Zootopia. He always wondered how they had got so big but since Lionheart had been locked up in prison, Bellwether must have been funding the operation with the city's money, if she was linked. Nick was still unsure of that but that's what he was here to find out and not even two muscle packed rams could stop him.

As he heard their footsteps pass over the tracks Nick peeked around the corner, narrowing his eyes at the couple of inconspicuous sheep that trotted across the railway before glancing around in the darkness as if to glance around for enemies of any sort, yet they weren't nocturnal so couldn't see further than five feet in front of them due to their mobile phone screens being the only source of light available.

Nick shook his head at the stupidity of the mammals he was up against and still peering around the corner he noticed the door to one of the abandoned cars swung open. Nick got a bit closer to the car by crawling over the tracks towards the other end of the car. The voices start to become a lot more lucid the closer he ran on all fours to the other side of the tracks, his only cover being darkness and his attribute as a fox helped him more than anything in this situation. That being the ability to tread quietly was a godsend and Nick was more than grateful for it as it had helped him on multiple occasions. He didn't care whether that was his skill but it was that skill that caused his species to be purely derogated by society.

Nevertheless, he was stealthy and stealth is exactly what he needed right now. He peeked around the corner and with foxes' ears being very sensitive he could just about hear their muffled, hushed conversation. "…says the phone is too unsecure right and she sent us to tell you the next assignments."

"Oh let me guess: more cheetahs, or is this about the bunny I got?" Nick was now curious as to what they meant by a bunny and that could have meant anyone but he couldn't help but imagine it as _his_ bunny.

"No, this time she wants you to hit a fox." That caused Nick to lower his ears in fear for his own kind. He could stop whoever it was shooting mammals by just using the gun Judy had but then again she had it and was probably tied up with a blindfold and gag inside the carriage so what could he do?

"A fox? Which fox?"

Nick suspected it would be his name to part the ram's lips due to the commotion he pulled back at the bar and the fact he was lucky not to be in the one-hundredth minority of predators who weren't any longer sane, but then again Weaselton wasn't a grass to people he didn't trust and just like everyone in the criminal system he had trust issues, yet not as severe as Nick's and it would take some familiarisation with the organisation to blab as everyone knew blabbing got you hurt or worse. But Nick's anxiousness was not for nothing as the ram proceeded with the fox's details. "Nick Wilde, apparently him and that rabbit cop nearly shut us down years ago and Duke reported that he saw them earlier in the evening trying to get info out of him and he said that the shooter was a ram which is why we're sending guys to go and deal with him." Nick immediately felt himself clenching his fists, they were running such a professional operation which had hurt people so hard and he wanted to go out and pound them all to death but the rams were beefy and Nick wasn't. That wasn't even including the size difference but that never seemed to bother Finnick, so why should it bother him? Because this wasn't a verbal discord, this was physical.

"I just want to know the location of this pest." Nick ground his teeth from being called a pest by someone who fed the city fear in exchange for god knows how much money, all because he was a good shot. That was if he was the shooter. That was still unsure. Regardless of how much spite Nick held for these mammals, he still _needed_ to listen to get information on where and whether Judy could possibly be involved as a victim or who's other names were connected.

"Apparently he could be anywhere but all we know is that he's probably gonna be here soon so we need to move, asap." The ram that seemed to hold more authority over the two, which seemed like minions, almost growled a sigh at the lack of information he received.

He answered sharp and stern with no courtesy or respect for the animals who were just passing a message on. "Okay, give me time. I'm brewing the last bunch, give me half an hour. Then I can move."

The other ram spoke up from the duo and was prepared to directly pass on the message from their master and was immediately cut short as soon as Doug, the ram who had his minions rose his tone whilst cutting him short, leaving the other ram too fearful of what Doug might do if he was answered back to or interrupted. "But the boss-"

"Tell boss I'll shove the crude serum down her throat if she tells me to move one more god damn time because she can't hire properly and also let her know I need another 100 Gs for new equipment and better facilities to catalyse the growing process. Now if you don't mind me, I'm going to go and finish up." He was expecting the other rams too flee passing on the message but instead stood there frozen like a statue. Both of them trying to pluck up enough courage to deal with the ram's flaming temper. Nick was speechless, not like that affected anything, but 100K for killing predator's sanity.

The one who spoke up started to lose his train of thought before the other tapped his arm which seemed to do its job of nudging him back to reality. "But err, the boss said that she wanted to meet, she's waiting in the natural history museum for you." The ram said something too quiet for Nick's ears to pick up so must have been either private or they were on to him. He guessed the first one as they all seemed like idiots to him at least.

He traced his paws on the side of the train farthest from the track and jumped up before holding himself up with his sweatily nervous paws which were placed on the tram's window. But, before Nick could get a chance to drop down, he heard the footsteps of the ram closing in on him from inside the train as he was slamming all the windows shut and before he knew it he had a metal sheet slammed onto his fingers. However, he managed to find some mentality in amongst the intense angst he was experiencing and managed to keep his throbbing fingers firmly fixed on the window sill. He was opening his mouth wider than he ever had to, in order to deal with the pain and with his fluorescent orange fingers not being seen in the darkness that pushed the tram of the map. He hung on the side of the tram before hearing a thud and a muffled struggle clearly form the bunny trapped in the source of the dystopia that was being created in amongst the city that predators and prey were supposed to live in harmony in.

As Nick heard the door slam shut, shaking the whole cabin, Nick swung to and fro. After he'd listened to three pairs of echoing footsteps walk up the stairs and backtrack on the trail Nick followed he attempted to lift the opaque metal window after a lot of effort then he was stuck hanging there. He didn't have enough energy to pull himself up so instead, he clawed his was way into the metal with his feet making the loudest noises possible with his claws scraping against the metal sheets. After he used his muzzle to push the window up high enough it dropped back down to its original height falling short of his already bruised fingers. Then as he lifted it back up with his muzzle he moved his arm up to pulling his weight over the hurdle. As he jumped through, the metal sheet dropped on his back and caused another howl of pain from the bruised fox that flopped into the carriage.

Nick brushed himself down before clicking his back into place and stood up straight before adjusting his sensitive eyes once more to the purple tinted lights that shrouded the carriage before him and found himself in the driver's cabin of the rusty abandoned train.

He shook his head as if to shake off the fall he'd just taken and the constant pain the window provided him with along with the anger he felt towards the rams who ran the operation before Nick turned around once more with that same thought crossing his mind when he realised he was alone.

 _If only Judy were here._


End file.
